Production Engineering and Operations Management MSc

Overview

If you’d like to pursue a managerial role in factory operations, this MSc in Production Engineering could help you take that next step up.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show the UK’s industrial sector has increased by 1.4% a year since 1948. In our increasingly competitive global marketplace, modern manufacturing companies are being placed under even greater pressure to reduce the time and cost of producing high quality products.

To respond effectively to these challenging market requirements, there is a growing demand for highly trained individuals with skills and expertise across engineering, business and management. This Master’s course is designed to meet that need, developing multidisciplinary production engineers capable of designing lean and competitive manufacturing facilities and delivering operational excellence.

Course information

Within the fast-moving 21st century global marketplace, retailers, wholesalers and consumers are demanding a greater variety of products more quickly and at the lowest possible cost. Concerns about the environment are also requiring companies across all sectors to be more accountable and socially responsible, particularly in waste management and reduction.

The overall aim of the course is to advance your abilities within the area of production engineering and operations management so you can assist manufacturing companies to meet these demands head on – achieving competitive advantage and making an impact on profits and sustainability.

We will encourage you to systematically and critically evaluate engineering design and process choices around materials, production technologies and production processes. You will then design solutions to complex production engineering and operations management problems using 3D computer solid modelling and the latest industry standard software, interfacing with current leading production machines.

You will study two of the more popular approaches being used to improve manufacturing processes with a view to making companies more productive and cost efficient, namely lean and agile manufacturing. Agile manufacturing is designed to respond to an environment of continuous and unanticipated change, focusing on the ability to generate a rapid response to unpredictable customer demand. It relies on capacity to reduce production cycles and requires the support of innovative staff and suppliers. Whereas lean operations, first adopted by Toyota Motors, refer to the operational techniques used to add value by maximising available resources and reducing wastage.

Why choose this course?

Since leading the Industrial Revolution, Britain has remained a pioneer of new materials and manufacturing processes. Manufacturing contributes £6.7 trillion to the global economy and the UK is currently the 11th largest manufacturing nation in the world, accounting for 54% of exports and directly employing 2.6 million people.

Production engineering is recognised as a highly specialised field for which there is a global shortage of highly skilled professionals. Combining manufacturing technology and engineering sciences with management, production engineers identify new and innovative solutions to optimise production processes in the smoothest, most judicious, economic and sustainable way.

If you are seeking a management career in factory operations and require additional production knowledge, this course provides opportunities to work on real-world problems, such as optimisation of production layouts, introduction of new products, production problem solving and product/process redesign for sustainability etc.

Teaching is informed by our strong portfolio of industrial research, which currently includes: vehicle seat research with Jaguar Land Rover and Innovate UK; a virtual exhaust prototyping system with Unipart; and flywheel hybrid system for City Bus and commercial vehicle use.

Our industry connections enable us to deliver a programme of exciting guest speakers, which in the past have included speakers from the BSI (British Standards Institution), Jaguar Land Rover, Rolls Royce and others from within the UK supply chain.

Your studies will be split between our £55m Engineering and Computing Building and the Institute for Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering (AME), based at Unipart’s Coventry site. You can experience the latest technology on the manufacturing front line, which includes £3m of state-of-the-art robotic automation, forming, joining, analysis and simulation, metrology and product verification technology.

You will learn to identify opportunities for the application of new materials and processes and evaluate appropriate production control systems. At the same time, you can develop the skills to assess manufacturing issues with regards to strategic and financial implications, as well as work effectively in a team environment.

International experience opportunities

The University is committed to providing a global educational experience, which is reflected throughout the teaching experience and our many initiatives to study or work abroad.

Career prospects

Between 2010 and 2020, engineering companies have been projected to have 2.74 million job openings, of which, 1.86 million will require engineering skills.

Our partnership with the Unipart Manufacturing Group and our close links with a range of engineering companies ensures this course is highly vocational in nature, designed to produce ‘industry ready’ graduates.

On completion of this course you should have developed as a manufacturing engineer and increased your knowledge of the application of technology and developed your business and management skills. You should go on to pursue a successful career in manufacturing industry in roles which typically include manufacturing engineering, process planning, production planning, quality, systems improvement, projects and operations management.